[bksvol-discuss] Re: gaps in the collection
- From: "Julia" <julia.kulak@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:35:12 -0500
Wow, six hundred books! That will take a long time to process.
Julia
----- Original Message -----
From: Carrie Karnos
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, February 23, 2009 3:41 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: gaps in the collection
Hi Monica,
Unbeknownst to anyone, because the books haven't been put into the collection
yet, I bought 20 books at the Home Depot a month ago. These books are on
plumbing, wiring, drywall, trimwork, barbecues, kitchen remodeling, brick and
tile, landscaping, backyards for children, how houses are built, etc, etc. I
also got some books on cutting electricity bills and creating 'greener' houses.
And thanks to a donation of 600+ books a couple of months ago, there are
maybe 16 books coming on perennials, annuals, orchids, greenhouses, house
plants, African violets, etc.
And a week ago, I bought a dozen books on films, and some TV series (Lost,
Firefly, Star Trek).
And I bought a book on the history of American birding. Never occurred to me
that someone would write a book about that, but they did, so I got it.
I'll see if I can find books on defensive driving, car maintenance,
beauty/fashion, scrapbooking, home decorating, and flower arranging.
Our star Googler is looking for histories of the various countries around the
world from non-American, non-European people, per another person's request. And
she's looking for pro-communism writers too, per yet another person's request.
Since she likes international politics, she's having a good time with these
last two requests.
Carrie
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From: Monica Willyard <rhyami@xxxxxxxxx>
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, February 23, 2009 12:04:11 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: gaps in the collection
Hi Carrie. Since Bookshare serves sighted people, I see some gaps others may
not have mentioned. Books about defensive driving, car maintenance,
beauty/fashion, bird watching, scrapbooking, and home decorating and remodeling
are missing from Bookshare. We also don’t have many books about flower
arranging, varieties of flowers and plants, and landscaping. Many of our books
about houseplants and gardening are rated fair and are hard to read. They
aren’t visible to new members by default. In fact, our “Home and Garden”
category is fairly anemic, especially since around half of the 181 books are
Shelley’s series of children’s books about animals that are “nature’s
children.” If you watch TV, networks like TLC, A&E, Style, and HGTV are full of
shows about decorating, remodeling, and restoring houses or about planting
lovely gardens and landscaping with designs that flatter the style of a home.
So far, Bookshare’s collection doesn’t reflect these types of interests. I
haven’t figured out if this lack of content is due to lack of interest from
submitters or if the material is difficult to scan. It could be a combination
of both. I do know that sighted people read books on these subjects and think
they will expect to see books about these topics in the collection.
Monica Willyard
"The best way to predict the future is to create it." -- Peter Drucker
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